Carbon Monoxide poisoning cases in children on the rise says new report

Published: 12 September, 2017

New data has revealed that cases of suspected carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning in children are on the rise across the UK.

Campaign group Project SHOUT tracks the numbers of those attending A&E with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, which has exposed an increase in the number cases of under 18s since 2015, with more than 500 cases reported in the last year alone.

Children are particularly susceptible to the deadly gas, also known as the silent killer, as you can’t see it, smell it or taste it. Due to their less developed nervous system, and higher frequency of breaths leading to an increased consumption of oxygen, children process carbon monoxide differently than adults and may be more severely affected by it.

To compound the issue even further, recent research from npower discovered that only 4% of parents can identify symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, clearly highlighting the lack of awareness of the deadly gas amongst the UK population.

The worse affected areas for children include:

• East Anglia showing a 211% increase

• West Midlands showing a 58% increase

• London showing a 27% increase

• East Midlands showing a 27% increase

• South East showing a 17% increase

Cases of suspected CO poisoning are on the rise in general with the worst affected regions including:

• West Midlands showing a 91% increase

• London showing an 18% increase

• East Anglia showing a 15% increase

• Yorkshire showing an 11% increase

In Scotland cases are up by 34% since 2015

Approximately 50 people needlessly die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning and thousands more are treated in hospital.

Carbon monoxide is produced when fuel doesn’t burn properly, usually from badly fitted or poorly maintained appliances. Common sources of CO are gas and oil boilers, gas hobs and fires, log burners, open fires and BBQ’s.

At least 5,000 jobs could be created from a £0.9 billion project to create a new ‘green’ source of gas to power local industry and heat homes in North West England, according to gas distribution network Cadent.

The new legislation relating to carbon monoxide and smoke alarms requires all landlords to fit and maintain working CO alarms. Testing the alarms can be difficult as the most accurate way to test is using a safe level of gas to test the alarm.